


Confrontation

by MalisonQuill



Series: Roarsome Rex AU [2]
Category: The LEGO Movie (2014), The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Body Horror, But you still feel for him, F/M, Monsters, Rex is a bastard, Swearing, Violence, babymen going feral
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-20 14:04:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21282935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalisonQuill/pseuds/MalisonQuill
Summary: Rex’s plan had failed. Lucy had convinced Emmet not to destroy Watevra’s wedding. Armamagedden had been halted.But there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Or rather, more than one way to get Emmet to harden his heart…Rex would make Emmet into him one way or another. There would be two half raptor men in the universe and Rex would do everything in his power to ensure that happened.By the end of the day, sweet little Emmet would no longer exist. All that would be left, would be two unstoppable monsters...
Relationships: Emmet Brickowski/Wyldstyle | Lucy
Series: Roarsome Rex AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1506086
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	Confrontation

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome aboard the angst train!  
This one shot is how the end of the movie goes down in my Roarsome Rex AU. Please make sure you've read my other one shot for it, "Metamorphosis", before you read this one so you aren't lost.
> 
> Also big, BIG THANKS to RexBrickowski (Brickowskibois on Tumblr) for beta-reading this one for me!!!! :D She made so many good suggestions and edits for this! So if you haven't (or even if you have x3) please go give her some love! She does great stories and great art, and has been a massive help. :3c
> 
> With that being said, I hope you enjoy this feels trip!

Rex stood by the large glass window on the Rexcelsior’s bridge, staring out of it and scowling intently at the scene currently playing out below.

The Wedding Ceremony had been interrupted, people were fleeing in terror, but Space Temple remained mostly intact. 

That hadn’t been how Rex’s plan was supposed to play out. 

For the most part, Emmet had done everything he was supposed to. He’d successfully snuck his way through the temple and made it to the base of the wedding cake, and he’d even managed to resist his  _ ‘friends’ _ attempts to stop him as he’d charged through them and made it to the very top. He’d been so close… 

Emmet had so very nearly delivered a master breaker punch to the cake, but he’d been twisted by  _ her  _ and changed his mind at the last second. He’d made the decision to not destroy the temple or end the ceremony, because  _ maybe the Systarians weren’t so bad! Maybe they could all work out their differences and be  _ ** _friends!_ **

When Emmet had told Rex that over his headset, it made him want to  _ puke. _

The kid had no idea how naive that was. Nor how the Systarians were nothing but trouble. Nor how Emmet’s so-called  _ friends  _ would just abandon him like a worthless piece of unimportant plastic when they could no longer be bothered with him anymore. He had no idea about any of that. He was supposed to have toughened up at least a little by now; at least enough for him to have hardened his heart to his friends. He should have ignored them. He should have ignored  _ her… _ But he hadn’t. 

He hadn’t ignored them, he hadn’t hardened his heart, and most importantly, he hadn’t gone through with their plan. 

Which meant Rex had needed to take action.

After all, if you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself. Even when you  _ technically  _ also had yourself carrying it out in the first place, but then he didn’t do it, so you had to do it  ** _yourself,_ ** yourself. 

  
  


So Rex had tied a lifeline around himself, leapt from the Rexcelsior and landed onto the top of the wedding cake with a powerful crash and a fearsome roar of rage. 

Everyone had gone silent at that.

Emmet had tried talking to Rex, no doubt trying to give him some wishy-washy sentimental speech about friendship and harmony and all that crap, but Rex didn’t give a shit about any of it. He ignored Emmet’s words entirely and got to work. 

He’d tried delivering a master breaker punch on the cake himself, but Emmet had gotten in the way and tried to hold him back, meaning Rex had barely been able to do any damage. Cracks had darted through the structure, moderate pieces of it had fallen away and the whole thing had become very unstable, but it wasn’t enough to bring the whole thing down. 

Everything had erupted into chaos after that. 

Emmet’s friends had come at Rex, trying to stop this monstrous intruder from disrupting the ceremony any further. Of course, Emmet had once again started trying to talk everyone down, but absolutely no one was having it. After a brief exchange of blows, Rex had realised things were going downhill for him pretty quickly, and that if he was going to come out on top, he’d have to level the playing field and fight on his own turf. 

Before anyone could react, Rex had grabbed a hold of Emmet and roared some instructions into his ear piece. All Lucy and the others could do was watch as Emmet was whisked away through space and up into the giant spaceship looming over them. The look of shock and horror on his face was seared into Lucy’s mind. It was the only thing she could think of, even after he’d disappeared from her sight. 

A vast number of smaller spacecraft had then flown out of the Rexcelsior and started causing havoc at the temple, shooting at both the structure and the crowd of people trying to escape.

  
  


Rex growled as he watched all the chaos that was still going on from the safety of the bridge. It was no Armamagedon, sure, but it still pleased his dark, hardened heart to have some small form of revenge brought upon all those happy-go-lucky Systarians and the  _ ‘friends’ _ who had left him to rot. It was a start at least. One that he just didn’t want to tear himself away from watching.

  
  


“Rex! Or uh- me?? Please! Let me out! You don’t have to do this!”

  
  


But it looked like he had to.

Rex turned his gaze away from the destruction to face behind him. 

Emmet was stood in Rex’s genetic alteration machine with his hands pressed against the thick glass window in the door. The whole thing looked like a tall, diamond shaped pod. One that had countless tubes and wires connected to it and jutting out at weird angles. During his and Emmet’s escapades earlier, Rex had instructed the raptors bring it up to the bridge and set it all up. He had figured that was best to do, just incase the worst happened, and they needed a fortified location to use it in. And Rex was glad that he’d thought of it, because the worst  _ had  _ happened. But that didn’t mean things were unsalvageable. After all, he had his past self right where he wanted him, and even if his  _ ‘friends’ _ did try and come for him, they’d be too late.  _ Nothing  _ was stopping Rex, not now. 

He walked up to the machine’s window, leaning down so he could get face to face with Emmet and stare him in the eye. With mocking grin, Rex shook his head from side to side and tutted.

“No can do Ems… ‘Fraid this is how it’s gotta go.”

Emmet stared back at him, frozen in shock. The more Rex spoke, the more fear and inescapable dread rose inside him.

“Like I just explained to you. You and me? We’re supposed to be the same. And well, we can’t exactly be the same with you looking like  _ that… _ Now can we...?”

Emmet stayed silent at that. He took a quick glance down at himself, before looking back up at Rex. He'd already guessed. Once he'd taken in Rex's speech explaining just who he was, he'd suspected what he might try to do. But now it had finally hit home. Now he knew what was coming.

And he was  _ trapped. _

Rex leant back from the pod's window, gesturing widely with a twisted grin on his face that made Emmet feel sick.

“Besides! You asked me to harden your heart, didn’t you? Well there’s nothing that could make it harder than  _ this.” _ Rex said as he flexed his right arm and proudly displayed his strong, toned muscles. 

Emmet was finally knocked out of his daze, fear and panic at the inevitability of Rex's plan taking hold of his heart as he started slapping his hands against the glass in a futile attempt to escape.

“No… No, I don’t want that anymore! I don’t need to be tough like that anymore! Rex, please!”

Rex had taken a few steps towards the machine's control panel, but paused immediately on hearing Emmet's words. With a low growl rumbling in the back of his throat, he turned to face Emmet, who instantly froze again at seeing the enraged look in Rex's eyes.

As he began to speak, Rex slowly walked closer and closer, back towards the pod.

“You only think you don’t need to be tough because you don’t know any better!!! But ** _ I do!_ ** I’ve learnt from my past mistakes! You don’t need those pathetic pieces of plastic you call  _ friends, _ Emmet! Because  _ they  _ never needed  _ you!!! _ You mean  _ nothing _ to them!  ** _We _ ** mean nothing to them!!! Maybe they’re here for you now, but they won’t be when it really matters! Sooner or later they’ll leave you behind, and then where will you be?! Huh?!”

Rex shouted and slapped his clawed hands against the pod, jostling it slightly with the force of his hit, causing Emmet to flinch backwards. There was an almost crazed look in Rex's eyes as he talked. One with a hint of buried pain that made Emmet all the more fearful and saddened by his words. 

“You’d be broken, and  _ alone, _ and  ** _abandoned,_ ** wishing more than anything that you’d just done what everyone had wanted you to do for years; that you’d hardened your heart and been the tough guy they needed you to be.  _ That’s _ who you need to be Emmet!  _ You  _ need to be like  _ me! _ So this? This is just me doing you a  ** _favour,_ ** so you never have to deal with all that pain and regret.”

“But-!”

_ “Boss?” _

Emmet and Rex were both interrupted as a raptor who'd been stationed at one of the consoles approached Rex and nervously roared something to him. 

Rex snapped his gaze away from Emmet and looked at the raptor, speaking in hisses and snarls that Emmet couldn't understand.

_ “What?! I’m in the middle of something Quaid!” _

Quaid was silent for a moment, lowering his head meekly before replying with a whine.

_ “They’ve made it in…” _

  
  


Rex froze.

Instinctively he started to curl his hands around the metal of the pod in anger, but he stopped himself before he could do any damage to it. 

Slowly he rose to his full height, looming high over Emmet as he looked at him with a cold frown.

  
  


"You've just made everything a lot harder on yourself you know…" Rex said, with a dark tone that sent a shiver down Emmet's spine.

Rex turned and started walking away, his tail twitching and flicking as his heavy foot falls landed on the metal floor.

"'Cause your so called  _ friends _ are coming for you now, we're gonna have to do things  _ differently." _

Rex made it to the console. 

"If you'd just done what you were supposed to, if you had just let things go according to plan, then I could have made this easier on you…"

As he started looking at readings and pressing a series of buttons, Emmet noticed a number of the cables coming out of the console came towards the direction of the pod.

He gasped in horrified realisation.

"We could have taken things a lot slower…"

The machine hummed, a sound that got louder and louder as more power flowed into it. A faint, sickly green light turned on inside the top of it, bathing Emmet in an ominous glow. He looked up at it, then around him, the close metal walls of the pod suddenly feeling even more constricting. It was like the walls were slowly creeping towards him, as his dread and sobering realisation that he was trapped squeezed around his heart. 

"But now?"

Rex looked over at Emmet, who in turn looked out the pod's window. His human eyes filled with fear and a pleading desperation locked with reptilian ones that were cold and dark, without an ounce of compassion. 

The machine started buzzing louder with energy.

Slowly Rex lifted his hand and hovered it over a large switch. Emmet watched on as his fingers curled around its handle. 

"Looks like you're gonna become me the  _ hard way. _ And you're gonna do it  _ real quick…" _

  
  


Emmet's breath caught in his throat as his heart stopped.

  
  


Rex threw the switch.

  
  


The humming and droning of the machine grew to a deafening roar. The sound of energy crackling around him drowned out everything else. Quickly the air in the pod grew hotter and hotter, a stifling force that made Emmet feel like he was locked in a sauna. 

No, not a sauna, he quickly realised. No that would at least be somewhat pleasant. This? 

This rapidly felt like he was a lobster being boiled alive in a vat of unbearably searing water. Trapped in a tomb with no escape. His fate, like the machine he was in, inescapably sealed.

But it couldn't be! He could get out! He **_had_** _to get out!!!_

He could-

He could master break!!!

That could get him out!

  
  


He turned to the window, not bothering to concentrate on seeing what was beyond it, but instead, he focused everything he had on hitting it. 

He drew his fist back before slamming it forward. Then he did it again.

And again.

_ And again. _

His fists flew back and forth in a panic, his desperate need to get out screamed at him to succeed.

But he couldn't.

He couldn't break out. He didn't even make a tiny crack in the glass. He was too scared, too uncoordinated to deal a master breaker punch at all. Every hit was just a normal punch, and that did nothing against a machine designed to withstand a wild blow from an experienced master breaker. 

His breathing quickened, his heart beat in his chest like a jackhammer as terror and confusion swallowed him whole. He backed away from the door and leant against the opposite wall, suddenly feeling dizzy from the heat and adrenaline rushing through him. 

His clothes felt tight around him, as constricting and confining as the machine he was trapped in. His skin tingled slightly for a moment, before suddenly it ignited and burnt with pain like it'd been set on fire. 

He cried out in shock and hunched forward, hugging himself tightly. 

  
  


And that was when the rest of the pain came.

  
  


All at once, every single part of him cried out in agony. His jaw ached, his spine burned, his feet and legs felt like they were being crushed. In fact, it was like his whole body had been placed at the bottom of the ocean, and it was being slowly compressed by the tremendous pressure, yet somehow while simultaneously being burnt alive.

He shook violently. He opened his mouth to let out a scream, but nothing but silence escaped him. Then something like a stabbing spike of pain shot through his throat, and a moment later he let out a sound. 

He couldn't tell what it was, not with everything else that was going on. Maybe it was a scream, or a screeching roar, or a pleading cry for everything to  ** _stop,_ ** or all of them at once. 

He didn't know.

  
  


But then in an instant, there was darkness. His eyes remained open, he could tell, but he couldn't see through them. Something was wrong.

No, scratch that,  _ everything was  _ ** _wrong._ **

Everything then happened too quickly. A painful cacophony of confusion erupted within him.

Parts of him were pulled, and twisted, and snapped apart, like he was being broken down and rebuilt in in all the wrong ways. Other parts of him suddenly felt too short, or too long, too big and too small. And everything felt  _ tight. _ He couldn't see what was going on anymore, nor could he hear anything over the buzzing roar of the machine, but he could feel  _ everything. _

His clothes ripped, torn apart just like he felt his body was. He fell forward towards the door as his legs gave way from under him, and a hand slapped against the window, his now clawed fingers curling and scraping at the glass as he slowly slid downwards. 

His jaw felt like it was suddenly too small, and quickly he recognised the taste of blood as something sharp pricked at his tongue. After coughing it away, he let out a strained whine in between his ragged, panting breaths. It was an alien sound to hear come out of him, but that was the least of his worries right now. He felt something different, something he could tell was building up to be worse than anything else than before. Shakily he turned his head to look behind him and stare in horror as firey pain increased and focused at the base of his spine...

  
  


Outside, Rex watched and analysed the machine's progress on the monitors of his control panel. He tried to keep his eyes glued to it, but every now and then he kept glancing up at the machine, trying to peer through the window.

...

It was a necessary evil.

That's what he had to keep telling himself.

It was necessary to both make Emmet tough and ensure his own existence.

This was how things were going. This was how they  _ had _ to go…

  
  


An ear splitting scream cut above the droning of the machine, and Rex looked up at it instantly. It was a haunting sound, a scream of pain and terror that morphed into an inhuman, high pitched screech halfway through. Rex's stomach churned at the sound and he blanched for long solid moment. 

A number of raptors around him whined in worry. He did his best to ignore them, but a small, quiet whine of his own escaped his throat. 

Rex hadn't made a sound  _ quite _ that bad when he'd changed… Maybe hurrying up the process for Emmet had been a mistake…

But it was too late to think of that now. Emmet's metamorphosis was nearly complete. There was no stopping it now, not even if Rex wanted to.

So he steeled his resolve. He hardened his heart and forced himself to look back down at his monitor. But even then, he couldn't hold back a wince as yet another screeching scream cut through the room.

It was a necessary evil.

It was  _ necessary. _

And it would all be over soon...

  
  


After a few more minutes of trying (and failing) to ignore the increasingly erratic and mangled screams coming from the machine, it had finally done what it needed to do, so Rex started to power it down. 

  
  


It was finished.

  
  


The power faded, the droning stopped, and the machine hissed and creaked as it settled down. 

And then there was silence.

  
  


Rex looked down at the flashing green light on his monitor, signalling that everything was over, and that Emmet's transformation was complete.

Then, Rex flicked another switch, and the door of the machine slid open.

Motors and metal hissed as steam poured out of the open door. 

And then, Emmet fell out, collapsing on the floor.

  
  


He groaned in dazed confusion, but quickly gasped in shock when the bare skin exposed through the large holes in his ripped, tattered clothes made contact with the cold metal floor of the bridge. Panic caught hold of him again, his wide light blue, reptilian eyes darted all around but failed to take anything in. He was still reeling from pain and shock, and found it difficult to process anything. All he could really focus on was the shocking contrast of the frigid cold of the bridge compared to the inferno inside the machine, and breathing in and out. Those were the only two things his frazzled mind could truly process right now.

  
  


Rex slowly stepped over to Emmet, analysing him intently.

Emmet was lying on his front, his arms outstretched as he hung his head forward, doing nothing but stare blankly and pant as his whole body shook from shock.

That, Rex had been expecting. But what he hadn't expected was Emmet's appearance. 

Sure, Emmet looked half raptor, just like he did, with claws, fangs, a tail, raptor-like legs, all that. But his colours? His colours were all wrong. He wasn't light and dark blue like Rex was, no. Instead, he was a pale orange all over, with dark red stripes with bright blue centers, and bright red hair. Both of his eyes had deep blue markings around them, and his irises were a lighter shade of blue as well.

“Well…” Rex softly breathed out in confusion.

Emmet finally lost his blank stare and looked up at Rex. They locked eyes. 

Looking at Rex, then down at himself, the reality of the situation finally caught up with Emmet. Rex had made him like  _ him. _ He'd succeeded and turned Emmet into a part raptor too...

He didn't even know what to think of that, or how it made him feel. All he could process was the lingering burning sensation that completely engulfed his entire body. Tears fell from his eyes as so many different feelings, but pain chief among them, overwhelmed him all at once.

Rex stared down at him with a look of pity. 

This wasn't quite how he'd wanted things to go. Emmet was supposed to have hardened his heart, to have gone through with their plan, destroyed the wedding cake… then they could have celebrated their victory before Emmet chose to finish hardening himself by deciding to become like Rex. It could have been his choice, they could have done things slower, less drastic, less… painful for Emmet… 

But he'd made his choice. He'd changed his mind and forced Rex's hand. Rex knew better than Emmet, he knew the kid had to be tough in order to get anywhere in life. So he had to make the decision for him. Emmet would come to the same realisations that Rex had soon enough, and one day, he'd thank him. He was sure of it.

And yes, this orange look of his wasn't at all what was supposed to have happened (he could only imagine that the raptors must have royally screwed something up when they were getting the machine and DNA ready for him), but at least he was half raptor now. That was the most important thing they had needed to get right. 

Rex walked in front of Emmet, deciding that his plan had worked well enough to succeed at least, and smiled at him confidently.

“Now this is a different look than what I was expecting… But I’m sure we can work with it!” He laughed, with that confident yet unnerving chuckle of his. 

Rex crouched down in front of Emmet, staring him eye to eye with a devilish grin. 

“So… How does it feel to finally be  _ tough  _ Emmet?” He crooned darkly.

And all Emmet could do was stare back at Rex in horror, tears rapidly and silently falling from his eyes, and whine. 

  
  


_ “BOSS! One of the intruders broke through! She’s almost made it to the bridge!!!” _ A dark grey and green striped raptor suddenly shouted, as it ran in from one of the side doors. Rex stood and faced it, growling irritably. 

_ “Which ‘she’ dammit!? Who’s made it through?!” _

Emmet tried to turn himself to face them. In the back of his mind he worried how he could perfectly understand them, but in the forefront, there was a glimmer of hope. Someone had broken onto the ship. Which meant someone might be coming for him, to  _ save him. _

But… would they still do that… given what he’d  _ become? _

Well, he’d have his answer soon enough.

  
  


Because all of a sudden, the side doors the raptor had come through burst open. Someone had used a large war hammer made of Rexwing fighters to smash through the middle of them, making an opening just big enough for one. 

A number of raptors on the bridge rushed over, snarling viciously and ready to fight. The lead raptor made to dart through the hole before the intruder could, but they were promptly met with a hammer to the face. 

The raptor screeched in shock and stumbled backwards, giving its attacker an opening to come through. 

And there she was.

Stood, with her hammer raised, an angered snarl on her face and poised to fight, was  _ Lucy. _

  
  


The raptors roared threateningly again, and made to dart forward, but stopped in an instant as Rex let out a long, loud whistle. Everyone looked to him, Lucy included, but she didn’t back down. She stayed stock still and ready to fight, waiting for either the raptors or Rex to make a move.

Rex was silent for a moment. 

His eyes locked with Lucy’s. 

Emotions that he didn’t want to think about stirred in his heart at the sight of her: things, feelings, that even after all this time he couldn’t entirely let go of. But he quickly quashed them. She was staring at him with a distrustful scowl of anger, not a rare sweet smile that she’d used to give only to Emmet-- she didn’t know him, she  _ hated _ him.  _ That  _ was what he had to focus on. He was the monster who had stolen her Emmet from her. That was all she knew him as.

And speaking of Emmet…

How would Lucy react to seeing him as he was now?

She’d been suspicious, cautious and almost fearful of Rex when she’d first seen him, so protective of the man she…  _ ‘loved’. _ But how would that differ for Emmet? 

Rex was sure he knew exactly, so he decided to see just how things would play out...

“Let her through.”

And with that, the raptors retreated to the sidelines, and Rex himself stood far back from Emmet. Lucy eyed him intently, keeping her weapon poised as she slowly walked forward. She was incredibly suspicious of his actions and had no idea of his reasoning behind them, but all that mattered to her was rescuing Emmet. And she’d take any opportunity to do that, even if it ended up being a trap.

She had to find Emmet, she had to save him from this… 

_ Whoever  _ he was.

She had to-

_ “Lucy…?” _

She stopped in her tracks at that familiar, soft, voice. 

And there on the floor, looking up at her was…

_ Emmet. _

A tiny glimmer of a smile graced his face as he stared at her with hope.

"L-L-Lucy… I…"

But she just stared at him, standing frozen meters away, doing nothing but stare at him with shocked horror written plainly on her face.

The faint smile on Emmet’s face fell in an instant.

_ " _ ** _Lucy…_ ** _ " _ Emmet sorrowfully cried out, his voice saturated with terror, and pain, and desperation.

But Lucy stayed exactly where she was.

  
  


Rex grinned with his wickedly sharp sinister smile as he looked at the two of them. Because now he knew he'd won. Emmet was now a monster just like him. A powerful, tough, terrifying creature that no one could stand in the way of. And that no one else would ever truly care about or accept again.

Which was good, Rex thought, because it ensured that that sweet little Emmet would twist into a monster and finally be forced to harden his heart.. Meaning he would continue to exist.

There was no way Lucy would save him now. There was no way she'd accept him as he currently was. She'd reject him. She and the rest of his friends would abandon him, just like they had abandoned Rex on Undar all those years ago. It would make Emmet grow cold and bitter, just like him, and then he'd want to toughen up. And  _ then  _ Emmet would be grateful for what Rex had done, because he'd already have that toughness, that power, that aggressive animalistic want for destruction. He'd have everything he needed. And if then they both wanted revenge on the others for their betrayal? Then he and Emmet would have all the means to get it, and tear every last one of them apart. 

Because  _ Rex _ would accept Emmet. They were just like each other now, after all. Two half-men, half-dinosaurs, alone against the world. Two monsters that would be there for each other, because no one else would ever look at them with anything less than terror or suspicion ever again.

Emmet was lucky. This would all probably be enough to toughen him up without even having to put him on Undar at all. So in the end, Rex's plan  _ had  _ worked. He'd spared his past self at least some of the unbearable pain he'd endured, whilst still coming up with a way to ensure his own existence.

Now all he had to do was wait for the penny to drop, for Lucy to reject Emmet and prove to him that his friends would never care for him when it really mattered.

Rex watched on as Lucy continued to stand there looking at Emmet. But then, after a minute or so, she slowly walked forward, towards him. When she was right in front of him, she dropped her hammer and knelt down, lifting a hand to his soft, yet scaley cheek. He stared up at her with bated breath as she frowned and searched his face for a moment, before finally she shook her head and looked at him in sorrow.

_ " _ ** _Emmet…_ ** _ " _

Tears formed at the corners of her eyes, and quickly they started to fall. Emmet tried his best to sit up and kneel as well, so he could get closer to her, maybe even hug her, but his strange legs fumbled and failed him. He rested his elbows on the floor and looked up at her, waiting for her to make a move. She stared at his face and sniffed hard, before suddenly she darted forward, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders and burying her head into the crook of his neck.

Everyone was stunned… but Rex was especially.

She should have turned and ran. She should have screamed in horror. She should have been repulsed,  _ anything like that. _

But instead, she'd done the one thing he'd never had considered: she'd  _ embraced him. _

There she was, clinging to him tightly with sobs of sorrow. It was enough to freeze Rex on the spot.

Lucy then leaned back from Emmet, moving her hands to stroke the sides of his head before bringing them down to cup his cheeks. 

She looked at his orange face, felt the rough scaley texture of his cheeks, and looked into his wide, reptilian eyes surrounded by deep blue markings, that were staring back at her with painful longing. 

And her heart broke.

She should have been better, she should have gotten here faster, she could have stopped this… But she couldn't tell Emmet all that, not now, he was too scared to hear her apologise for all that now. She would no doubt do it later though. It'd tear her to pieces inside with sorrow and regret when she did, but… she couldn't think of that now. No. Right now, the most important thing was comforting and soothing the man she loved.

_ "It's ok Em's…"  _ she whispered,  _ "You're gonna be ok. I'm here. I'm sorry I got here too late, but I'm here now. I'm here for you and I'm not going anywhere.  _ ** _I love you._ ** _ We can find a way through this…" _

Emmet nuzzled against her hands holding his face, tears falling faster as he was overwhelmed with conflicting emotions of terror, pain, but now, and most of all, relief. Relief that Lucy still cared about him. That one pleasant emotion was enough to lessen the sting of the others, at least a little. It made him involuntarily make a strange sound, one that came from the back of his throat that he could hear rumble every time he breathed out. He vaguely thought that must have been a purr or something, but he was too distracted by Lucy being so close and so comforting to him, despite what he'd been turned into, to focus on that and what it meant right now.

She gave him a weak smile, in an effort to give him a tiny bit more reassurance, but it was wiped away in an instant when she heard a deep, rumbling growl, like the inklings of a brewing storm, cut through the quiet of the room.

Both she and Emmet turned to face the source of the sound in surprise.

They saw Rex standing away from them, his clawed fists pinned to his sides shaking as his tail thrashed wildly, staring at them with a cold fury that bore into their souls. His growling got louder and louder as his sharp-toothed snarl got wider and wider as it contorted with a deep, growing rage.

_ "You… lying… _ ** _ traitor…_ ** _ " _ He said in dark, deathly quiet whisper.

His ominous growling made Lucy lower her hands and wrap them protectively around Emmet's shoulders, as a frown quickly grew on her face.

Then, Rex's growling ended with a loud snarl, and he yelled in outrage.

“You really believe her Emmet?! You really think she _actually_ cares about you?! If she’d have left you behind when you were still human, what makes you **_possibly_** think she’s not gonna abandon you now you look like **_that?!!!_**_” _

Emmet winced at his words, looking away from him and down at the floor as he considered the slim possibility that Rex might actually be right. Lucy felt her heart ache at seeing that. She held Emmet a little tighter in reassurance, before looking up at Rex with an angered scowl.

“Hey! I don’t know what your fucking deal is, but I would  _ never _ abandon Emmet! Not in a million years! Not if he was human, or part dinosaur, or anything!” 

The enraged look on Rex's face fell away, instantly replaced with surprise. She… She had to be lying. It couldn't be true. He  _ knew _ it wasn't true, because she  _ had _ abandoned  **him** _ . _ But even so, the conviction in her words, especially combined with how she was protectively holding Emmet now, how she'd come to rescue him… It was enough to make him pause.

“Besides that,  ** _you _ ** _ did this! _ You turned him into something like you! Why?!” 

Rex shook his head, getting rid of those lingering thoughts, and he chuckled darkly.

_ “‘Why?’ _ To finally make him tough of course…" He shot her an accusatory look. 

"Isn’t that what  _ you wanted?” _

  
  


Lucy's heart stopped as she stared at Rex in horror. She looked down at Emmet, who was staring up at her, waiting, before she turned to face Rex again with every last speck of colour drained from her face.

  
  


_ “Why would I want  _ ** _this…?_ ** _ ” _

  
  


A deafening silence fell after that.

Rex had gone wide eyed in shock as he stood, frozen on the spot. Then he glanced at Emmet, before staring back at Lucy. The look of utter heartbreak in Rex's eyes was enough to make Lucy's frown fall. He looked just as hurt as Emmet had when she'd first come onto the bridge and seen him…if not even more so. 

In fact, his face looked  _ eerily _ similar to Emmet's… And that, combined with his words, and his actions, were starting to turn the gears in Lucy's suspicious mind...

But she quickly set aside those thoughts, as she saw Rex's devastated look fade, being replaced with one of livid outrage. He threw his arms up, then quickly brought his fists down to his waist as he stomped a large dent into the floor, roaring in pure fury.

Lucy immediately reacted. 

She let go of Emmet, grabbed her discarded hammer and rose to her feet, defensively standing in front of him with her weapon at the ready. 

From his place across the bridge, Rex charged at them. 

Lucy grit her teeth and readied herself, while from his spot on the floor, Emmet looked on in horror. He couldn't just sit by and watch them fight. Lucy was a skilled warrior and Rex was a master breaker on the warpath. Who knew what either were capable of! ...Especially in Rex's case. After all, Emmet would never had dreamed, not even in his worst nightmares, of doing some of the things Rex had today. He couldn't just idly watch Lucy get hurt. He had to do something!!

As Rex neared, Lucy charged as well, pulling back her hammer and readying to swing.

Emmet quickly kneeled, then tried putting a foot underneath him so he could stand. He was incredibly uncoordinated, and fumbled a lot in his panicked rush, but he did manage to rise to his feet. He threw his arms out in an effort to balance himself, but still swayed and wobbled violently on his perplexing new legs with the weird, heavy weight of his tail behind him. But he did his best to ignore that and all the strangeness of everything and focus on the task at hand.

His attention was drawn to his side at hearing a loud roar and a smashing sound. Rex had managed to throw a master breaker punch and shatter Lucy's hammer in a single blow, but she'd quickly recovered and used her agility to dodge around him. She used what was left of the handle to strike Rex's back, but it simply broke apart on impact, serving only to irritate Rex instead of actually causing any impactful damage. He whipped around, his tail knocking into Lucy and causing her to stumble backwards and fall, then snarled threateningly.

Emmet instantly tried to take a step towards them, but tripped forward.

Surprisingly though, he didn't fall face first onto the floor like he'd expected. Instead, a few nearby raptors had run over to him and cushioned his fall. He smiled at them briefly as he kneeled, but when he tried to stand again, they moved. 

Instead of helping him, they held him back. About half a dozen of them crowded around him and held him down to keep him out of the fight. He struggled in their hold, trying and failing to free himself, and even letting out an involuntary growl in irritation.

"Guys! Don't! Let me go! I need to stop them!"

They all snarled in warning and held onto Emmet even tighter.

_ "This is the Boss' fight! No one is to get in his way!" _ One of them growled. 

Emmet tried struggling even more in a panic, and even unknowingly found himself slipping into speaking in raptor as he pleaded to them.

_ "But he could hurt Lucy! We have to stop him, please!" _

_ "You're the only one we have to protect. She's not our problem. And if the boss wants to fight her, then we'll do whatever we need to so he can!" _

Emmet growled loudly, but the raptors held firm, and with so many closely holding him down, all he could do was continue to struggle and watch the other two fight, with growing worry for Lucy's safety.

  
  


Rex pulled back a fist and threw it forward, only narrowly avoiding hitting Lucy as she rolled to the side at the last second. A large, deep dent was left in the floor, right where Lucy's head had been a moment ago.

She quickly used her momentum to roll into a crouch and get back on her feet again. But once again she was on the defensive, as she had to duck and weave more and more wild blows from Rex as he yelled in blind fury.

"DON'T YOU DARE LIE TO ME! YOU  _ WANTED _ HIM TO BE TOUGH! YOU WANTED HIM TO CHANGE! YOU REALLY THINK I BELIEVE THIS ACT?! YOU CAN'T  _ ACTUALLY _ CARE FOR HIM AS HE IS!!! ESPECIALLY NOT NOW! HE’S WEAK! HE'S A MONSTER! A FREAK! NO ONE COULD CARE ABOUT A  _ THING _ LIKE THAT! OR  ** _LOVE_ ** THAT! ESPECIALLY NOT  ** _YOU!"_ **

Rex threw another punch, which Lucy successfully dodged. She used the opportunity to get in close to Rex and throw three quick punches into his side. He grunted a little at the blows and tried swiping out a hand to try and grab her, but she was too fast. Once again, Lucy had gotten away from him.

"IF YOU'D REALLY CARED AS MUCH AS YOU'RE PRETENDING TO NOW, THEN YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE LEFT  ** _ME_ ** BEHIND!!!" He yelled hysterically.

Lucy staggered to a stop at that, at those specific words he'd used. 

She'd never left him behind! She'd never even met the guy before today!

... Right?

But then again, maybe she had… He knew what she'd said to Emmet about (wrongly) wanting him to be tough… and every look he'd given her that wasn't in anger was always searching for something, always sorrowful, which did seem to show there was something more there. Maybe he  _ did _ know her. But if that was true, then who could he-?

…

Her heart leapt to her throat.

He  _ did _ know her, somehow, but then there was everything else, too. His voice, his vest, the fact that he'd rescued Emmet at  _ just  _ the right moment, and the fact that he'd turned Emmet into something exactly like him…

But that had to be impossible, he couldn't possibly be-!

  
  


She'd intended on continuing that thought, but she'd let it distract her long enough to get sloppy, and move too slowly. All of a sudden she found herself being yanked backwards by her hood, stumbling towards a wall, before she was shoved against it. A large, clawed hand darted towards her and wrapped firmly around her throat, keeping her exactly in place. Instinctively she threw her hands up to grab a hold of Rex's arm, but grasping and pulling at it did no good. She was utterly trapped in Rex's furious, iron grip. 

Pinned by both it, and his wild, livid stare.

"YOU LEAVE  ** _ME_ ** TO ROT IN SOME MAN-UPSTAIRS FORSAKEN  _ SHIT HOLE, _ BUT  ** _HE_ ** GETS TO BE SAVED?!?!?  ** _HE_ ** GETS YOUR LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE?!?!  ** _HE'S_ ** THE VICTIM, AND  ** _I'M_ ** THE MONSTER?!?!" 

Throughout his tirade, his voice rose in pitch in tandem with his hysterics, all the while his fingers slowly tightening around her throat. Along with that, he'd started slowly raising his arm, bit by bit lifting Lucy up higher and higher against the wall. 

When she registered her feet were no longer taking her full weight, she tried to take action. 

Keeping her eyes locked with Rex's as she kept the worryingly genuine fear on her face, in an effort to hold his attention, she slowly moved a hand down and behind her. 

In her back pocket, her hand grasped around the pink heart bomb she'd kept hidden there until it was needed most. And in such a dire situation, she knew it was the perfect (and potentially, her  _ last) _ chance she’d ever have to use it.

Carefully she pulled it out, still keeping it out of sight behind her, but suddenly Rex's hand constricted even more as she was entirely lifted off the floor and into the air.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH?! WHAT I'VE DONE?! WHAT I DID TO MYSELF, JUST TO BE STRONG AND TOUGH JUST LIKE  ** _YOU_ ** WANTED?!?!"

Breathing was almost impossible by this point. Lucy made gasping sounds, trying to ignore all the pain, as she was able to take in less and less air. Her hand holding onto the heart bomb shook as she tried to raise it up, desperately hoping she had enough in her to activate and deploy it.

But just as she'd lifted it level with Rex's arm, she lost what little energy she had left.

Her hand and body went slack.

And the harmless, inert bomb clattered to the floor. 

"IS  ** _NOTHING_ ** GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU?!?!"

Rex squeezed particularly tightly after that, and Lucy's eyes went wide as she let out a terrified squeaking croak, that was all she could manage with her limited breath. 

  
  


Emmet froze his thrashing in the raptors' strong grasp an instant. 

Something inside him snapped. He felt an urge deep down. A need to  ** _protect_ ** _ , _ far stronger than any he'd  _ ever _ felt before.

  
  


In that moment, instinct took over. He found his footing and his fury and let it burst out of him. 

He used his newfound strength to throw off all the raptors pinning him down as he roughly stood to his full height.

  
  


Rex was completely distracted as he growled at Lucy and continued to squeeze tighter and tighter. So he was unprepared when something suddenly slammed into his side  _ hard. _

He lost his grip on Lucy in an instant, and she fell to the floor, gasping for breath between hacking coughs. Rex was knocked onto the floor immediately. But before he could recover, something simultaneously grabbed onto the back of his vest and dug into the base of his tail, holding onto him so it could lift him up into the air and throw him across the Rexcelsior's bridge.

He rolled as he landed, and fought through his shock to quickly recover and look back at whatever had gotten the jump on him. 

Across the bridge, Emmet stood stock still over Lucy, staring at Rex intently.

He stood tall, growling loudly, his tail writhing about, his shoulders were tensed, his hands bared into fists that shook violently, and his eyes… 

His eyes had slitted reptilian pupils that burned with a livid fury, that didn't show an  _ ounce _ of human compassion. There was no Emmet sweetness, no hint of fear or regret at his actions, there was only merciless rage. It was enough to shake even Rex's hardened resolve. He didn't think his old self would ever have that kind of anger in him. But of course, he should have known that if anything could have tipped him over the edge, it would have been someone trying to harm Lucy. He should have thought about that. But he'd been too distracted by his own feelings and let them overtake him to think rationally like that.

And speaking of not thinking rationally, he knew that Emmet wasn't either.

Like him, Emmet had raptor instincts now, but the difference between them was that Rex had a reasonable amount of control over his, earned from years of dealing with them, whilst Emmet had absolutely none. He had now idea how to (and right now, probably no  _ want _ to) stop them. He was like an angered animal, defending his companion against a dangerous threat. He was unpredictable, and Rex knew if he made one wrong move the fragile powder keg that was Emmet would blow. 

  
  


Rex slowly made to stand, thinking he could probably talk Emmet down if he was careful enough, but as it turned out,  _ that _ was the wrong move. 

  
  


Emmet immediately roared and darted forward. He ran at Rex, his razor sharp fangs bared threateningly. Rex had barely made it to his feet when Emmet slammed into him. He shoved Rex roughly, who stumbled back, before slicing at him with his clawed left hand. Rex steadied himself and immediately raised his hand to touch his cheek. When he pulled it back and looked down at it, he saw a fair amount of blood dripping off it. He realised that Emmet had cut his face pretty deeply, which utterly shocked him. Emmet would never _attack_ **_anyone_**_._ But it wasn't Emmet he was facing right now, not exactly anyway. And he was quickly realising just how much trouble he was in, and how much he'd _really fucked up._

Emmet lunged at him again, snarling loudly with his fangs bared. Rex quickly raised his right arm up defensively, but Emmet just bit into it,  _ hard. _ Rex roared in shock as razor sharp teeth pieced into his flesh, blood quickly leaking out from the deep wound. Rex tried shoving him back with his free hand and pulling away, but Emmet had him held in a vice-like grip in his jaws. Any movement he did just seemed to exacerbate his injury, so instead, he threw a hard punch square into Emmet’s face.

Instinctively Emmet released him and stumbled back, whining in surprise.

Rex used the opportunity and took the offensive. He threw another punch, this time at Emmet’s stomach, hoping it would wind him enough to maybe give Rex a chance to subdue him. After all, Rex knew he couldn’t go all out on Emmet, otherwise he’d end up doing more damage to himself in the long run. It wasn’t exactly a good idea to severely maim or even kill your past self if you wanted to continue existing.

But unfortunately, Emmet seemed pretty unfazed by Rex’s blow. He recovered very quickly, and only seemed to get more pissed off by the hit. 

He roared loudly at Rex, darting forward, before widely thrashing his clawed hands at him. Rex was forced back, ducking and dodging and blocking blows with his arms. Emmet’s actions had no thought or plan behind them. There was nothing but wild fury and a desire to attack. Rex used the time he was defending himself to think of his next move, trying to ignore his own rising anger that was being fueled by his pain and increasing number of injuries. Most of Emmet’s uncoordinated scratches weren’t very deep, but the number of them were quickly stacking up and stinging like hell.

In a gap between Emmet’s swings, Rex made a move.

He kicked his foot forward and to the side, hitting Emmet in the side of his legs and causing him to topple over. Emmet snarled in outrage as he fell to the floor, but before Rex could even bend down to grab him or hold him down and restrain him, Emmet lashed out again. He pushed himself along the floor, darting right towards Rex's leg, his hands reaching out and grasping around it. And then, he pulled it closer to him, and bit into it  _ hard. _

Rex screamed.

He could practically feel the bones in the lower part of his leg  _ crunch _ as Emmet's strong jaws clamped down on it. He desperately tried to stagger away and pull his leg free, but all that did was cause him to stumble and fall on his back. Emmet let go of him immediately. For the brief second he laid winded on the ground, he wanted to feel relieved, but having Emmet's mouth yanked away from his wound only exacerbated his pain. He had no idea just how bad that wound would be, but from the waves of sharp pain coming from it, he knew it'd been deep. 

But he didn't have time to dwell on that for long, as Emmet had decided he had a perfect opening to continue his attack. 

He lunged forward onto Rex, pinning him down. And before Rex could even register what was happening, a mouthful of razor sharp fangs sunk deep into his shoulder with a crushing force.

And that was it.

_ That _ was the tipping point; the final straw that pushed Rex over the edge.

He'd tried to keep his head, to find a way to stop Emmet before things escalated to this point, but now he'd failed. All those stinging scratches, and bites, and everything had added up, and this last deep wound was the kicker. Rex had had enough.

And now he was  ** _mad._ **

He roared out in pain and anger, an entirely inhuman sound, and roughly shoved Emmet off of him, not even thinking or caring about how it clumsily made Emmet release him, and make the injury on his shoulder even worse. He rose to his feet as Emmet quickly did the same. And he leapt at him.

No longer was Rex carefully thinking about where and how hard to land his blows. Now he didn't think at all, he only reacted. He roared and snarled, swiping his clawed hands wildly, and landing deeper and deeper cuts every time. Every hit fuelled Emmet's anger, which made him lash out even more ferociously, and in turn anger Rex even more.

The two giant, half-raptor men grappled and attacked one another without mercy or thought, all the while roaring and snarling loudly through the otherwise deafening silence on the bridge.

  
  
  


The raptors stood at the sidelines of everything not knowing what to do. They thought about joining in the fight to help, but they realised they would just get in Rex's way more than anything. Plus they wouldn't be able to do anything that could severely harm Emmet, as it would in turn harm Rex. So really, watching was all they  _ could _ do.

Lucy was just as lost as them. Her breathing was still shaky and her throat felt raw as she lay propped up on her side, still recovering. She was transfixed by the fight. By the intensity of it, by the raw power and strength the two men were displaying, by the inhuman anger in the animalistic sounds they were making, and by the ever increasing amount of blood that was slowly staining more and more of the floor...

  
  


At one point, Rex threw out a kick, the large, impossibly sharp claw on his foot slicing across Emmet's stomach. 

Luckily Emmet had backed away from him by a fraction at the very last second, narrowly avoiding what could have been a far worse injury, but it was still deep enough to bleed and rapidly stain his tattered white undershirt. So in response, he let out a snarling hiss, and with all his rage-fuelled strength, shoved Rex back.

In an instant Rex landed on his back, his head roughly hitting the floor and dazing him briefly. The unexpectedness of it all was enough to jar him, and lift some of the furious fog that was clouding his mind, slowly bringing him back to his senses. 

But whatever gears were slowly turning in Rex's head were cranked up into overdrive, as a heavy weight landing on his chest made him instantly alert. He looked up, seeing a still feral Emmet sat on him, straddling his torso. He leaned forward, growling and staring down at him with his bloodied hands raised threateningly, and poised to strike. 

Rex had seen and experienced many things that had scared him in his life, but this? Seeing Emmet unhinged and feral as he was, and being completely at his mercy? It absolutely terrified him, and shook him to his core. And this image of Emmet, of the furious look on his face that somehow twisted with even more hatred as his hands shot forward towards Rex's neck, was something that would forever be burned into Rex's mind as the most horrifying thing he'd  _ ever _ seen.

It ingrained in his dazed mind so deeply that he didn't even register how tight Emmet's hands were around his throat until he started struggling to breathe. 

His eyes went wide as he quickly reached up to claw at Emmet's arms, desperately trying to pull them away and stop him. But he was too late, Emmet simply snarled and constricted even more, his unrelenting hold on Rex's throat getting tighter, and  _ tighter, _ and  ** _tighter._ **

Rex's hands shook as he was quickly running out of breath and energy. He stared up into Emmet's eyes and in between his gasps for air, he let out a weak, desperate, pleading whine. But it fell on deaf ears. Emmet was entirely consumed and overwhelmed by his heightened anger. He had no mercy for the monster who had hurt  _ his  _ ** _special_ ** so much. 

So he didn't stop, he just kept snarling louder and louder, all the while staring down at Rex with uncaring, inhuman eyes. 

  
  


Lucy couldn't believe what Emmet was doing. He'd lost himself, he was taking things way too far. 

Rex, or past, or future Emmet, or whatever the hell he was might have done some  _ terrible things,  _ but he didn't deserve to die for it. And she knew that once Emmet regained his senses, he'd be torn apart by having done such a violent, dreadful act. She couldn't let that happen. She had to  _ stop him! _

_ "Emmet..!" _ She softly called out, her sore throat keeping her cry barely above a whisper.

Emmet snarled louder as Rex struggled and choked. If he hadn't already been a shade of blue, Rex would have definitely had turned it by now. He shut his eyes tight, his grip on Emmet going slack as he finally ran out of breath.

Lucy cleared her throat and tried calling out again.

**"EMMET!"** She managed to successfully shout.

He snapped his gaze over to her in an instant. His cold eyes boring into her. She stared back at him intently, and ever so slowly something in him changed. He blinked. His thin slitted eyes widened as he looked at Lucy in sincere recognition. He glanced around him, eyes darting everywhere in confusion, until he finally looked down. The instant he saw his hands around Rex's throat, he let go and scrambled backwards, his arms pinwheeling as he gasped in horror.

Rex sucked in a huge loud breath as his hands shot up to his throat, confirming it was no longer being constricted. As he panted, hacking and coughing, Emmet stared at him blankly in horror. He was terrified of himself. One moment, he was pinned down by the raptors watching Rex shouting at Lucy, and then the next he was at a bloodied Rex's throat, choking him relentlessly. 

How had that happened? He vaguely recalled being mad, but everything had moved so quickly after that. It was all nothing but a blur of anger and adrenaline. One that he was feeling increasingly horrified by the more of it he recalled. He stared ahead at Rex, utterly frozen as he thought about it all.

  
  


In the back of his mind he heard footsteps coming closer to him, and a familiar friendly scent getting stronger. Which is why he didn't jump at all when he felt a gentle hand suddenly rest on his shoulder.

He looked to his side to see Lucy standing beside him. She frowned at him in concerned worry, more for him and his well being than anything else. Then she crouched down beside him, and the two of them simultaneously wrapped their arms around each other in a comforting hug that both of them desperately needed.

Tears ran down Emmet's face as he nuzzled into Lucy's shoulder, breathing in her reassuring scent in an effort to calm down. Her familiar presence was the only thing anchoring him to reality, keeping him from drowning in the terrifying chaotic mess they’d found themselves in.

So much had happened in such a short time, but the one thing they both knew would never change, was how much they cared about each other.

  
  


Near them, Rex sat up, carefully holding his throat in one hand as he stared blankly at the floor. A number of raptors were crowded around him in a protective huddle, sniffing at his wounds and quietly chirping at him in worry. They were terrified for him, and desperately wanted to help him, but none of them wanted to risk injuring him further. So they all waited with bated breath for him to make even the slightest move. 

After a long few moments, Rex's wheezing breath quietened down to a shaky, but steady pace. Slowly he turned his head, looking at the bittersweet display in front of him. Emmet and Lucy were so close. She held him so tightly in her embrace, clinging to him as if he was the most precious thing in the world.

He furrowed his brow, utterly perplexed.

"How…?" He croaked out.

Emmet and Lucy looked at him in an instant. Fear flickered in both of their eyes for a brief moment, but it vanished when they saw the tired, confused look of sorrow on his face. He looked so hollow, so utterly defeated. His heart as broken as his body.

Rex swallowed, fighting through his increasingly sore throat as he spoke. After saying one word in his normal gruff tone, he realised he wouldn't be able to keep it up without ripping his throat, so after that, he spoke in a much softer, familiar voice.

“How can you still embrace him? Even after what you just saw him do?”

Emmet winced as he looked at Rex, as he heard his quiet, soft voice that eerily echoed his own, and as he saw blood slowly drip from his wounds and onto the floor. Lucy held him tighter, but looked on sadly at the beaten man before them. She'd pieced everything together during their fight, but hearing Rex's voice and having her suspicions confirmed broke her heart.

"How can you still care about him?  _ Why _ did you come back for  _ him?" _

Rex looked at them for a long minute after that. Different thoughts and possibilities ran through his mind, but in the end, there was only one conclusion he could come to.

"You really do still love him… Don't you?"

Lucy loosened her hold on Emmet, staring at Rex sincerely. 

"Of course I do. Nothing could ever change that…" 

Rex froze, staring back at her in surprise. Part of him, a part that still felt angry and bitter after all this time, didn't want to believe her. But seeing her now, seeing her cling to Emmet after she'd  _ come for him, _ after she'd tried to  _ rescue him. _ He couldn't deny what she was saying was true. She  _ did _ love Emmet.

_ She  _ ** _loved_ ** _ him. _

Rex turned away from her, chuckling dryly.

"Yet that wasn't enough to save  _ me…" _

This Lucy loved her Emmet. She'd done everything in her power to come rescue him and save him. And she'd succeeded. She was here with him now, and together they'd beaten him. She  _ had _ saved him _ . _

Maybe if Rex had held on longer, his past version of Lucy would have saved him too… And even if she hadn't been able to, she wouldn't have stopped caring about him. 

Maybe she didn't abandon him. 

Maybe she never stopped loving him...

  
  


But as Rex idly looked down, he felt a weird tingling sensation in the end of his tail. He carefully lifted it up and set it down across his lap. And surely enough, his nagging suspicion was true. The end of it was slowly disappearing, fading away from existence itself.

“And it looks like nothing can save me now…”

Emmet and Lucy glanced at each other in shock, before looking at Rex in confusion. One of the raptors beside him, Ripley, saw what he was looking at and squawked in terror. 

“Wait, what’s happening?” Emmet asked.

But Rex didn't look at him. He turned his attention to Ripley, attempting to reassure her with a pat on her head as he glanced at her and all the other increasingly distressed raptors sadly. Emmet watched on in rising confusion as more and more of Rex's tail faded away.

“Rex, what’s going on?” He hurriedly asked.

Rex stopped petting Ripley and lowered his hand. He stared at Emmet forlornly, trying to explain everything in a simple way that Emmet could understand.

“She came back for ya Emmet… You’re never gonna get stuck on Undar, or have to go through everything that I have. All that stuff that made me harden my heart…” He softly said, before turning to look at Lucy.

“You’ve got  _ her, _ and all the others at your side. They never left  _ you. _ So that means…”

He paused, looking at where his tail (which was now totally gone) had been, as the tingling sensation moved to his legs. He grimaced, trying to hold back his rising dread and come to terms with his now inevitable fate.    
  


“That means I’m never going to exist…”

Emmet gasped at him in shock. 

Maybe Rex had done some…  ** _terrible _ ** things… But for most of the short time Emmet had spent with him today, he'd been his friend. He'd been encouraging, supportive. He hadn't just been some entirely evil villain. And even if he was… Emmet didn't want to see him disappear. He couldn't bear to see  _ anyone  _ ** _die..._ **

“Rex… No…” 

He smiled at Emmet weakly, trying his best to put on a brave face and reassure him. After all, he wasn't going to be around much longer, he might as well try to do at least some tiny act of good with what little time he had left. Not that it would ever make up for all the heinous acts he'd done today alone, but still, it was  _ something. _

“...It’s ok Emmet. This is probably for the best. No… It  _ is _ for the best. The world doesn’t need a monster like me in it.  _ You’re _ the one who deserves to be here. Because you’re better than me. You’re  _ stronger  _ than me, than I could  _ ever  _ hope to be. You’re gonna grow up to be a far better person than I could ever be. I’m just…”

What weak reassuring façade Rex had fell with his rising sorrow. His legs up to his knees had completely vanished. He was running out of time. He looked Emmet right in the eyes, pleadingly.

“I’m just so,  _ so  _ sorry for not realising that. For trying to change you. For what I’ve-”

He paused, realisation hitting him in the face as he registered just what he  _ had _ done. He'd turned Emmet into a half-raptor against his will. He'd forcefully made him 'tough', when now he didn't have to be. He'd changed the past, changed who Emmet was supposed to be, but he hadn't done it for the better. 

_ “...Fuck… What have I  _ ** _done?”_ **

He'd made Emmet  _ like him. _ He'd turned Emmet into a  ** _monster._ **

And it was all for nothing…

Rex balled his hands into fists, and a few tears glistened in his eyes as he stared at the floor. His feelings of guilt totally consumed him. So much so, he didn't even notice that the tingling sensation had reached his hips.

“I’ve ruined you…” His sorrowfully whispered.

A few silent tears slowly fell down his face.

Emmet frowned, thinking for a brief moment, but then he slowly pulled away from Lucy and carefully rose to his feet. She watched on in confusion as Emmet staggeringly made his way over to Rex. The raptors around him whined and fidgeted as he approached, unsure of his intentions and whether they should let him near or defend an already disappearing Rex. But as Emmet stood directly in front of Rex, he frowned sadly down at him.

“No, you haven’t.”

Slowly he moved his arm forward, and held out an open hand to Rex. At noticing his close presence, he looked up at Emmet in bemusement. He glanced at Emmet's hand, then up at his face, and back again.

“...What is…?” He questioned, confused.

Emmet smiled at him, still keeping his hand in place.

“It’s my hand. I want you to take it.”

Rex flinched in surprise. Then stared at his hand, shaking his head. 

“Why...?”

Emmet paused in thought for a moment, furrowing his brow slightly.

“Because you messed up,  _ big time, _ but…” 

He closed his eyes, trying to sort through all his conflicting feelings, before finally coming to a conclusion.

_ “I forgive you. _ You don’t deserve to disappear Rex. You deserve  _ help. _

You don’t have to be the bad guy. You can be better too.” 

Rex stayed completely frozen, and for a moment the only thing he could focus on was the tingling feeling that had reached his chest. But then he processed what Emmet had said, and let out a single empty chuckle. 

“...You can’t… You can’t just-  _ forgive me _ like that! Who could possibly forgive  _ this???” _

Emmet frowned at him in determination.

“ _ I _ could.”

Rex looked at him in disbelief. But then, both his and Emmet's attention was drawn to the sound of footsteps. Lucy walked up and stood beside Emmet, taking one of his large hands in her own as she warmly smiled at Rex.

_ “We _ could.” She said sincerely.

Rex shook his head, tears rapidly starting to fall down his face as he turned away and tightly grabbed his dark blue hair in frustration.

“How…? How is this so easy for you?! How can you still open your heart like this after  _ everything!? _ How are you both so  _ strong!?” _ He cried.

Emmet looked down at Lucy, and the two shared a heartbroken look, deciding their next move together, without any need for words. They took a small step closer to Rex, drawing his attention back to them again.

“Because we have each other. We’re not alone. And you don’t have to be either.” Emmet said, prominently gesturing his free hand again. Lucy then held hers out as well, right beside Emmet's in Rex's reach.

“Take our hands Rex, whilst you still have a hand to take.” 

Rex's eyes darted between them, then to the raptors around him, and back again. He shook his head, looking down at his slowly fading left hand and the remains of his right arm, which didn't even have anything below his elbow anymore. 

“But… that’s not how it works… The universe doesn’t care if someone being erased from it is holding someone else’s hands. It’s not gonna do anything…” 

“We won’t know if we don’t try. And besides, does that really matter?” Emmet pleaded.

Lucy moved her hand a little closer, thinking of something that might work to encourage Rex, and desperately hoping her gamble would pay off.

“Rex…  ** _Emmet- _ ** _ please…” _

At hearing her say his name,  _ both  _ his names, in such a pleading tone, Rex felt something stir in his heart. She continued, giving her hand a single shake to draw his attention to it. 

“Take our hands…” She finished off.

Rex stared at her, then at Emmet, noting the sincere worried looks on their faces, then down at his one remaining semi-transparent hand. He gulped, thinking about his next move in deep thought.

He shouldn't bother. He shouldn't do it. There was no way it was going to work, it wouldn't stop him from disappearing. He really didn't see the point…

And even if it  _ did _ work… If for some impossible reason it meant he  _ didn't _ disappear…

Well he wouldn't deserve it. 

What had he done to possibly deserve to continue existing? All he'd done was  _ ruin  _ ** _everything. _ **

The world would be better off without a monster like him...

  
  


But despite that, a part of him decided he might as well do what the other two wanted. Every decision he'd made today had fucked up the lives of everyone around him. So he might as well make his last act alive doing what someone else wanted. Especially if it could potentially make those he was leaving behind feel a fraction better.

Hesitantly, with a shaking, fading hand, Rex reached out to them.

He held his hand above theirs, taking a last shaky breath, then, he brought his hand down.

The pair curled their fingers around it as tight as they dared, and the three stared at each other silently. A wobbly, but warm smile grew on Rex's face, and in an instant he was glad he reached out to them. Maybe it would be pointless in the end, but in the brief moments he had left, Rex felt a warmth in his heart. A warm feeling that in this, his final moments, someone actually cared about him, and that in some strange way he (or at least Emmet) had been saved... 

It wasn't a bad way to go.

  
  


...

  
  


Or at least, it wouldn't have been.

  
  


But the problem was, he didn't actually  _ go. _

He'd stopped fading, and instead the tingling feeling from before spread back up his arm, down his torso, and into his legs and tail. With it, the dissipated parts of him faded back into existence, and before long, an utterly stunned Rex was suddenly standing on the bridge, completely whole and completely solid. 

Rex ran his hands over his body, patting and grasping at it to make sure it was actually there. And unbelievably  _ it was. _

"How???"

His eyes darted down at himself, then briefly at the happily chirping raptors behind him, then at an equally confused, but happy, Emmet and Lucy.

“But-! But this shouldn’t be possible! How am I still here?!”

Emmet shook his head, letting out a soft chuckle as he rested a hand on Rex's uninjured shoulder. 

"This time travel stuff is always confusing, best just to roll with it."

Rex blinked rapidly, raising an eyebrow in bemusement. And his confusion only rose when he felt a small hand gently held onto his. He looked down, and saw the smiling face of Lucy looking up at him.

"It doesn't matter why it worked, what's important is that you have a chance now Rex."

"Yeah! You don't have to be the bad guy!" 

Shaking his head in denial, Rex grimaced. 

"But look at what I've done!!! How could I be anything  _ other _ than the bad guy after what I've done to you, and tried to do to everyone else?!" 

Rex's eyes locked with Emmet's, and he meekly looked away from Rex and down at the floor, lowering his hand to rub his other arm as he did so.

"It's ok… We can figure this out and deal with it…" 

Rex looked Emmet over despondently, thinking about what he'd done, and taking in everything that had changed. 

"No. It's  _ not ok." _

He was silent for a moment, looking across the bridge at the genetic alteration machine, when an idea occurred to him. 

"But maybe…  _ you  _ ** _don't_ ** have to deal with it…"

Emmet perked up, glancing in the same direction as Rex, before tilting his head at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I changed, it was slow. It took weeks. And once I finally realised what was happening, I didn't want to stop it. But with you, Emmet, it was quick. And it just happened. So maybe…"

He paused, the gears turning in his mind as a possible plan started to form in his mind.

"Maybe there's a way to undo this… For you, at least."

Lucy smiled up at him in surprise.

"You really think you can do that?" 

Rex shrugged.

"Honestly? I have no idea. But I think we could at least try? Emmet doesn't deserve to be stuck as a monster like I do…" 

At seeing him wistfully stare at the floor, Lucy squeezed both his and Emmet's hands a little tighter, getting both of their attention and beaming warmly in reassurance.

"Emmet is not a monster Rex. And neither are  _ you." _

Rex blinked at her, obviously taken aback, but found the corners of his lips curling up slightly at seeing that brilliant, beautiful smile of hers. A smile she was giving  _ for him. _

"If we do try, and it doesn't work, then it doesn't matter. Because half raptor or not, you're both still  _ you. _ You're both interesting, and important, and talented, and the most special  _ persons _ I've known."

"And you'd both be fine, just as you are…"

At hearing that, a few tears fell down his cheeks. A genuine, touched smile slowly grew on his face, and he chuckled. 

Rex knew he wouldn't rest until he found a way to make Emmet human again, like he deserved to be, but even so, hearing Lucy say that lifted a weight from his heart. 

This hadn't been his plan.

This hadn't been how things were supposed to go.

But standing there, with his raptors around him, with Emmet and Lucy right by his side, all whilst  _ existing… _

Being  _ alive _ and having all that, having a  _ future _ that looked brighter than his past...

Rex had never been so happy to have something not go according to plan.


End file.
